Grain on HP5+

Lumipan · Aug 15, 2023

Hi, this is Ilford HP5 plus, developed with Adox Xt-3. Agitation each minute for 15s, 8.5mins.

I'm not sure if this kind of grain is normal. It's not that I have a problem with it, just wondering.

Any other developing tips regarding the image are welcome.

Thanks

eli griggs · Aug 15, 2023

Lumipan said:
Hi, this is Ilford HP5 plus, developed with Adox Xt-3. Agitation each minute for 15s, 8.5mins.

I'm not sure if this kind of grain is normal. It's not that I have a problem with it, just wondering.

Any other developing tips regarding the image are welcome.

Thanks

Drop your agitation to ten seconds a minute, after initial agitation of 15 seconds, or to five every 30 seconds, IMO.

foc · Aug 15, 2023

I think the scan may have accentuated the grain.
Unless you can make a darkroom print, it can be hard to know.

Pieter12 · Aug 15, 2023

I like it.

Don_ih · Aug 15, 2023

It could be reticulated. That does not look like HP5 grain. It could also be what @foc said.

pentaxuser · Aug 15, 2023

eli griggs said:
Drop your agitation to ten seconds a minute, after initial agitation of 15 seconds, or to five every 30 seconds, IMO.

I don't disagree with this suggestion as I too think that more than the recommended Ilford agitation of 10 secs is unnecessary but I do wonder if that extra 5 secs has been the cause of the grain. As foc has said: Only a darkroom print will reveal what the grain actually is

pentaxuser

Pieter12 · Aug 15, 2023

Don_ih said:
It could be reticulated. That does not look like HP5 grain. It could also be what @foc said.

Reticulation has a distinct swirly pattern. This is just nice grain.

Don_ih · Aug 15, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Reticulation has a distinct swirly pattern.

Uh, no.... It will look different film to film. For the most part, it looks like dried mud.

Pieter12 · Aug 15, 2023

Don_ih said:
Uh, no.... It will look different film to film. For the most part, it looks like dried mud.

Film reticulation is rare with today’s emulsions. It take a pretty extreme temperature difference to occur. An illustration from Ilford:

Don_ih · Aug 15, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Film reticulation

You have heard of degrees, correct? More reticulated, less reticulated. The example at the top of the page looks less reticulated than what you showed - but still looks reticulated.

But who cares?

ic-racer · Aug 15, 2023

This is HP5 in T-max developer, printed with a Componon-S on 11x14 Ilford MGFB. I think it is pretty grainy.

Alex Benjamin · Aug 15, 2023

foc said:
I think the scan may have accentuated the grain.
Unless you can make a darkroom print, it can be hard to know.

Also agree.

Alex Benjamin · Aug 15, 2023

ic-racer said:
This is HP5 in T-max developer, printed with a Componon-S on 11x14 Ilford MGFB. I think it is pretty grainy.View attachment 346704

Pretty grainy, and quite lovely.

EMBRACE THE GRAIN, PEOPLE !!! EMBRACE THE GRAIN !!!

Pieter12 · Aug 15, 2023

Scan of darkroom print. 35mm HP5+ rated at 160, Rodinal, cropped square.

Steven Lee · Aug 15, 2023

@Lumipan You are looking at a ridiculously over-sharpened scan. Even asking "is this grain normal" is beside the point because you can't evaluate grain with this file, you're looking at a digitally introduced defect. A major one, I would add. Here's a full-sized scan of HP5+ developed in Xtol which is a similar developer. No sharpening has been applied, which should give you a better idea for what to expect.

brian steinberger · Aug 15, 2023

ic-racer said:
This is HP5 in T-max developer, printed with a Componon-S on 11x14 Ilford MGFB. I think it is pretty grainy.View attachment 346704

Just curious, was this print made with a diffusion or condenser enlarger?

GregY · Aug 15, 2023

ic-racer said:
This is HP5 in T-max developer, printed with a Componon-S on 11x14 Ilford MGFB. I think it is pretty grainy.View attachment 346704

Beautiful image IC.....the grain suits it to a T. I've never gotten grain that pronounced in 16x20 prints on 120 HP5..... but it looks cool!

John Wiegerink · Aug 16, 2023

foc said:
I think the scan may have accentuated the grain.
Unless you can make a darkroom print, it can be hard to know.

I have a very good Mac screen and stuck my nose up to the picture you posted. Looks like your scanner is adding a bit of sharpening.

RalphLambrecht · Aug 16, 2023

Lumipan said:
Hi, this is Ilford HP5 plus, developed with Adox Xt-3. Agitation each minute for 15s, 8.5mins.

I'm not sure if this kind of grain is normal. It's not that I have a problem with it, just wondering.

Any other developing tips regarding the image are welcome.

Thanks

normal for35mm. D76 will give you less grain but,noproblem. it's supposed to be there.

otto.f · Aug 16, 2023

I do embrace the grain, but I didn’t find HP5+ have nice grain compared to TriX. It‘s not systematically so, depends on the kind of light and the chosen developer too. Ilford itself has very fine grain developers, like Perceptol, it will cost you a stop but the results are very nice. You will not see this kind of coarse grains as in OP’s image. I mostly don’t scan 35mm at higher than 3200ppi btw to avoid that you experience more grain than image.

STR1015 · Aug 16, 2023

With what software did you scan it? I'd echo what foc said, the scanner/software could have been the problem.

koraks · Aug 16, 2023

STR1015 said:
With what software did you scan it? I'd echo what foc said, the scanner/software could have been the problem.

Yeah. There's a lot of sharpening applied to that scan in a way that accentuates the grain. It's a matter of taste, as this makes the image look a little "gritty".

Lumipan · Aug 16, 2023

Good morning everyone.

This is a film scan, I didn't print anything yet from this negative.

When I was printing (on enlarger) other negatives with similar grain, not much grain would appear on paper, if at all. I was wondering why is that.

So it makes sense that the scans are digitally sharpened. I don't have a scanner, so I go to a photo store to scan negatives. Probably he has a preset on the scanner or software, it's a Fujifilm sp-3000 scanner. Next time I bring a film for scanning I'll tell him and see what happens.

Do these scanners make some RAW files?

Thanks for your help

Lumipan · Aug 16, 2023

ic-racer said:
This is HP5 in T-max developer, printed with a Componon-S on 11x14 Ilford MGFB. I think it is pretty grainy.View attachment 346704

This grain on asfalth looks great, I love it.

Pieter12 said:
Scan of darkroom print. 35mm HP5+ rated at 160, Rodinal, cropped square.

View attachment 346707

Hungover bird sleeping on sand, nice. Probably eaten fermented fruit.
On your image there is much less grain and with Rodinal.

foc · Aug 16, 2023

If I remember correctly the Fuji SP3000 scanner does not make raw files.

Check with your lab and ask what software they are using with the scanner.

These are very good lab scanners but the operator could have the image sharpening (in the software) at the highest setting.

I have used this scanner, a good few years ago, and they can produce high quality images from traditional B&W film but the operator just needs to know how to do it.

Grain on HP5+

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